Awake: 6:31am Temp 42 sleep 7+15 sunny overnight @ Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dick C. calls around 7:45am & invites us for breakfast @ “The Diner.” This time I decline due to our plans for lunch with Kathy’s brother, Skip.
Shortly after 11:00am, K & I join the maddening crowd by driving downtown (15) min & park under the oldest mall in Vegas, the Fashion Show Mall. We meet Skip outside the door to the Capital Grille; he looks very professional & seems happy to see us again. Sitting @ table # 78 with a very nice view of the Las Vegas Strip, we waste no time in asking Skip questions & then he reverses & questions us. K & I share a swordfish lunch with a bowl of lobster bisque which will suffice for our dinner later. After a good (1.5) hrs of interrogating each other, we say our goodbyes & Skip returns to his domain of business.
The wind is cool & the sun not so warm, but Kathy requests seeing some of the Casinos along the Las Vegas Blvd, affectionately know as “the strip.” We pretty well covered most of these Casinos during April, 2005, but she would like to renew her visit @ the Venetian & the Bellagio; my response to that: “Yes dear.”
The Venetian was as we remember it: the open sky with clouds that look so real & move when we move; the gondolas with lovers, friends, or family being guided silently along the waters of the canal save for the oar man or woman, who sings Italian style. We walk around the corner & spend some time in Saint Mark’s Square, staring @ the live but virtually motionless human statues.
Then outside again on the sidewalk, we join the tourists, shoppers, & workers & find our way to the beautiful Bellagio. Our 1st stop, the lobby, where Chihuly has displayed his multi-colored glass works on the ceiling @ a cost of over (1) million dollars. Next we visit the conservatory which is decorated for the Christmas Season with an arched walkway formed by 6 narrow streams of water in oval loops going from one side of the walkway overhead to the other side, leading to a very live appearing tree adorned with lots of silver loops of garland & lights. I offer to take a picture of a senior couple in front of a display of Penguins who look very real….if they would return the favor & they did. We see Santa’s reindeer made out of pecan nuts; very unusual & fascinating. In this artificial atmosphere, one has no idea of the outside climate, but we know darkness & cooler air are waiting for us.
Timing is everything & once outside, the water fountains of the Bellagio with music start its “on the half hour” display of dancing waters with Christmas music. On the other side of the street, we see the Eiffel Tower, 1/3 size of the real one in Paris.
We found our car with no problem, zipped thru the traffic & returned from our downtown adventure by sevenish o’clock.
DVR movie tonight: “Period of Adjustment” with Tony Franciosa, Jane Fonda, Jim Hutton, Lois Nettleton, etc. Newlyweds (Fonda & Hutton) try to help troubled marriage of Nettleton & Franciosa, in the heartwarming comedy based on a Tennessee Williams play. 1962. Well, Kathy was worn out from “The Strip” walk, but she got the drift; needless to say, it was not quite up to our high standards of good films.
Lights out: 11:40pm
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